Western Armenian (Classical spelling: արեւմտահայերէն, arevmdahayeren)[3] is one of the two standardized forms of ModernArmenian, the other being Eastern Armenian. Until the early 20th century, various Western Armenian dialects were spoken in the Ottoman Empire, especially in the eastern regions historically populated by Armenians known as Western Armenia. Following the extermination of the indigenous Armenian population during the Armenian Genocide of 1915 Western Armenian is now spoken, almost exclusively, in the Armenian diaspora communities around the world. As a diasporic language, and as a language that is not an official language of any state, Western Armenian faces extinction as its native speakers lose fluency in Western Armenian amid pressures to assimilate into their host countries. Estimates place the number of fluent speakers of Western Armenian at less than one million.

Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian are easily mutually intelligible.[citation needed] They share the same ISO 639-1 code hy. The ISO 639-3 code for both is hye. The Armenian Wikipedia is coded hy and is largely Eastern Armenian. Some commercial translation agencies advise that translation from English should normally be into Eastern Armenian.[4]

First, while Classical Armenian has a three-way distinction of stops and affricates: one voiced and two voiceless — a plain version and an aspirated one — Western Armenian has kept only a two-way distinction — one voiced and one aspirated. For example, Classical has three bilabial stops: /b/⟨բ⟩, /p/⟨պ⟩, and /pʰ/⟨փ⟩; Western Armenian, two bilabial stops: /b/⟨պ⟩ and /pʰ/⟨բ⟩/⟨փ⟩.

Second, Western Armenian has shifted the Classical Armenian voiced stops and voiced affricates into aspirated stops and aspirated affricates, and replaced the plain stops and plain affricates with voiced ones.

Specifically, the following are the changes from Classical Armenian to Western Armenian:

Bilabial stops:

merging of Classical Armenian /b/⟨բ⟩ and /pʰ/⟨փ⟩ as /pʰ/

voicing of Classical /p/⟨պ⟩ to /b/

Alveolar stops:

merging of Classical Armenian /d/⟨դ⟩ and /tʰ/⟨թ⟩ as /tʰ/

voicing of Classical /t/⟨տ⟩ to /d/

Velar stops:

merging of Classical Armenian /ɡ/⟨գ⟩ and /kʰ/⟨ք⟩ as /kʰ/

voicing of Classical /k/⟨կ⟩ to /ɡ/

Alveolar affricates:

merging of Classical Armenian /dz/⟨ձ⟩ and /tsʰ/⟨ց⟩ as /tsʰ/

voicing of Classical /ts/⟨ծ⟩ to /dz/

Post-alveolar affricates:

merging of Classical Armenian /dʒ/⟨ջ⟩ and /tʃʰ/⟨չ⟩ as /tʃʰ/

voicing of Classical /tʃ/⟨ճ⟩ to /dʒ/

As a result, a word like [dʒuɹ] 'water' (spelled ⟨ջուր⟩ in Classical Armenian) is cognate with Western Armenian [tʃʰuɹ] (also spelled ⟨ջուր⟩). However, [tʰoɹ] 'grandson' and [kʰaɹ] 'stone' are pronounced similarly in Classical and Western Armenian.

Western Armenian nouns have six cases: Nominative (subject), Accusative (direct object), Genitive (possession), Dative (indirect object), Ablative (origin) and Instrumental (means). Of the six cases, the nominative and accusative are the same, except for personal pronouns, and the genitive and dative are the same, meaning that nouns have four distinct forms for case. Nouns in Armenian also decline for number (singular and plural), but do not decline for gender (i.e. masculine or feminine).

Declension in Armenian is based on how the genitive is formed. There are several declensions, but one is dominant (genitive in i), while half a dozen other forms are in gradual decline, and are being replaced by the i, which has virtually attained the status of a regular form:

Like English and some other languages, Armenian has definite and indefinite articles. The indefinite article in Western Armenian is /mə/, which follows the noun:

mart mə ('a man', Nom.sg), martu mə ('of a man', Gen.sg)

The definite article is a suffix attached to the noun, and is one of two forms, either -ə or -n, depending on whether the final sound is a vowel or a consonant, and whether a preceding word begins with a vowel or consonant:

Verbs in Armenian are based on two basic series of forms, a "present" form and a "imperfect" form. From this, all other tenses and moods are formed with various particles and constructions. There is a third form, the preterite, which in Armenian is tense in its own right, and takes no other particles or constructions. (See also Armenian verbs for more detailed information.)

The "present" tense in Western Armenian is based on three conjugations (a, e, i):

sirel

'to love'

khôsil

'to speak'

gartal

'to read'

yes (I)

sirem

khôsim

gartam

tun (you.sg)

sires

khôsis

gartas

an (he/she/it)

sirê

khôsi

garta

menk' (we)

sirenk'

khôsink'

gartank'

tuk' (you.pl)

sirêk'

khôsik'

gartak'

anonk' (they)

siren

khôsin

gartan

The present tense (as we know it in English) is made by adding the particle gə before the "present" form, except yem (I am), unim (I have), kidem (I know) and gərnam (I can), while the future is made by adding bidi:

^ abcdeThe choice of Armenian symbol depends on the vowel's context in the word. See the Orthography section below for details.

^ abcdeThese letters represent the same consonant due to a sound shift in Western Armenian from Classical Armenian. See the Differences in Phonology from Classical and Eastern Armenian section below for details.

^ abcdeThis letter has undergone a sound shift from Classical Armenian to Western Armenian. See the Differences in Phonology from Classical and Eastern Armenian section below for details.

^Although Western Armenians are taught to pronounce two different rhotics (written ⟨ր⟩ and ⟨ռ⟩), the two have merged in many dialects into a flap.

^In vernacular language, the particle "gor" is added after the verb to indicate present progressive tense. The distinction is not made in literary Armenian.

ՀԱՅԵՐԷՆ ԱՐՄԱՏԱԿԱՆ ԲԱՌԱՐԱՆ by Hrachia Acharian (5,062 word roots). The definitive study of the history and origins of word roots in Armenian. Also includes explanations of each word root as it is used today. (Explanations are in Eastern Armenian, but root words span the entire Armenian language, including Western Armenian.)